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OUT OF WORK FOR NOW: As Beijing's building sites enter an Olympic-induced hibernation, migrant labourers leave for neighbouring Shandong province for a break and temporary jobs. -- ST PHOTO: SIM CHI YIN
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BEIJING - WITH A rice sack stuffed full of belongings in his hand and a well-worn backpack hanging from his shoulder, Mr Li Shoufang squeezes into Beijing Railway Station with 10 other migrant workers, off for his first 'summer vacation'.
The last of the hundreds of thousands of construction workers who gave Beijing its US$40 billion (S$54 billion) spanking-new makeover are now leaving the Chinese capital as all building sites, except those related to the Olympics, have been ordered to stop work to cut down on air pollution during the Games.
'There's no way we can find other work in Beijing now and we can't watch the Games anyway, so there's little meaning in staying here,' said Henan native Mr Li, 59, with a shrug.
Just as the world's leaders, top athletes and thousands of foreign visitors are flocking to Beijing for the sporting extravaganza, some locals are skipping town to avoid the very same event.
Migrants make up the bulk of the so-called 'Olympic exodus'. They are joined by dissidents - whom Beijing needs to keep 'lidded' during the country's coming-of-age party - and white-collar professionals who just feel too inconvenienced by Olympic-induced controls to hang around through the 16-day sports fest.
There is no way to gauge the size of this human tide, but China's cyberspace is full of tongue-in-cheek comments on Olympic fatigue and longing for bi yun - which sounds like 'contraception' in Mandarin but literally means 'avoiding the Olympics'. (Olympics is ao yun in Mandarin.)
Come Thursday, Beijinger Qiu Jihong, 46, will take an 18-hour drive to his parents' home in north-eastern Heilongjiang province to hibernate for at least two weeks.
The manager of a water treatment company has had enough of the newly imposed traffic and security measures.
With cars now allowed on the roads only on alternate days, depending on their licence plate numbers, his daily 20-minute drive to work has become an hour-long struggle on the public bus.
Tight security checks have also made it virtually impossible for him to send machine parts to his clients.
'It's best to avoid Beijing during this peak period...A small spark can lead to big chaos, especially since Chinese are so explosive in temperament,' Mr Qiu said.
'I'm better off watching the Games on TV.'
Likewise, property agent Kevin Tu will celebrate the Aug 8 grand opening ceremony from the relative calm of a Bangkok hotel room.
The 29-year-old, who will be spending five days in Thailand, said: 'I was excited about the Olympics at first, but since I didn't get any tickets, I'll have to watch it on TV and it doesn't matter where I am then.'
However, not all residents are so gloomy. Some 98 per cent of the 2,000 Beijingers polled by a government agency said that they were enthusiastic about the Olympics and would stay at home during the duration of the Games.
Dissident-writer Woeser, a Beijing resident and critic of the state's Tibet policy, will not be among them. She will be travelling within the country - she has been repeatedly denied a passport - from the beginning of next month.
'If we don't bi yun, we'll just have to be holed up at home during this period, no different from every time there is a big political event in Beijing,' she said.
Other dissidents have reportedly been bundled out of Beijing already, although outspoken political observer Zhang Zhuhua said he had no plans to leave just yet.
With policemen already standing guard outside his home, he said: 'The authorities have asked me repeatedly to 'take a holiday', but I won't use public funds and I can't afford to go away for a month.
'If things get too inconvenient here, I may leave for a short while.'
For most migrant workers, who have been told to return only after the Paralympics end in mid-September, taking a break means losing their 50 yuan to 70 yuan (S$10 to S$14) daily wage.
But as a Sichuan native working on the iconic CCTV Towers in downtown Beijing put it, with a tinge of bitterness: 'China hosts the Olympics only once in our lifetime. We should cooperate with our country.'
simcy@sph.com.sg
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